Rise to the surface
by Nightwish Fan
Summary: Mobias has finally fallen. the ones who remained where sealed in a city, deep under ground for 200 years in order to survive. After 200 years they would be able to rise to the surface. the instructions were kept in a box. and once they were needed it would. But over time the box was lost and the city grew old. and who would end up finding it? well you have to read to find out
1. Prologue

Prologue

Long ago, when the world finally came to an end. Scientists, engineers and architects all decided that in order for the population of the world to continue. The ones who remained would have to be sealed in a city, deep under ground. A city that would be named Ember, as it would the ember that lit up this dark world. The scientists decided that they would be kept in the city for 200 years. And after the 200 years they would be able to leave and rise up to the surface. The instructions to leave were placed inside a small metal box along with a piece of equipment that would enable them to do so.

The box was sealed shut and handed over to the first mayor of Ember. Who would then pass it on to their successor. And so on and so forth until it was needed.

But fate ran another course.

The box was tucked away and forgotten about. And as the years went by and the city grew old the box quietly clicked open.


	2. Chapter 2, Swapping Jobs

Chapter one

The years have past, and the city was on its last legs. The generator was breaking down; soon the city would be plunged into darkness forever. Although this worried the people many went on with their day to day lives.

A black hedgehog was getting ready for the day ahead. Today was a special day. Today he would be finding out his future. What he would be doing for the rest of his life.

"Stupid this is!" Shadow grumbles as he gets his shoes on "Just place your hand in a bag and whatever you pull out is your future, such bullshit!" He got up and muttered to himself again "Oh well if it's any job I'm going to get then it had better be working in the generator, I'm not going to sit here while the city plunges into darkness"

He gets his things, walks out the door and heads towards the city hall.

Soon after a young pink hedgehog is running down from an apartment and into the streets of Ember

"I'm late!" she yells as she runs through the streets. It is an important day for her that she can not afford to be late on. Today was the day she too was finding out what her future would be.

She ran into the hall but the doors leading into it were closed. She would have to go round the back. She was about to run again when the man at the desk shouted to her

"You have to sign in!"

"I'm late!" she called back

Amy ran down the corridor and round the back of the hall. She made it backstage and looked behind the curtain. Everyone that was graduating was standing on the stage while the mayor was speaking to the audience. He was a short, fat mobian. He had orange fur and short quills.

Right at the corner, closest to Amy, her friend Rouge stood.

"Psst, Rouge, Rouge!" she hissed trying to get Rouge's attention. Rouge looked in her direction and looked back. The mayor started to recite the oath of ember while the other said it too. Once it had started Rouge signaled for Amy to come on the stage. Once Amy had come on she too was reciting the oath.

"We swear eternal loyalty to our city, we are grateful for the builders who built this magnificent city. We are thankful for our generator beating like a heart. Beyond Ember there is nothing but the darkness. It goes in all darkness. Our city is the only light in this dark world"

The mayor turned towards them and said

"It's true"

He then grabbed a bag from the table and showed it to the first person, who happened to be tails.

"Pick one and see your future" the mayor said

Tails put is hand and pulled out a piece of paper. He opened it and smiled

"Read it out loud" the mayor said

"Electricians helper, I get to work in the generator" Tails said with glee. Shadow sighed with disappointment; this was not what he wanted.

One by one the others pulled out their futures, Rouge had got warehouse clerk and she was not happy about that. After Rouge it was Amy's turn. She looked into the bag and paused.

"Pick one young lady" the mayor said with impatience. Amy slowly put her hand in and pulled one out. She opened it and read it with horror.

"Pipe works" she said quietly

"Say it louder so we can all hear" the mayor said

"I'm working in the pipe works" she said louder, trying to take it in.

"An important job" he said in monotone. Amy was still in shock, working in the pipe works was the most dangerous job there was. People die working there!

Eventually it was Shadows turn. He pulled one out and to his disappointment he got messenger. Although he was fast he did not want this job.

After the rest got their jobs, they all were allowed to leave. Amy was about to leave when someone called her. She turned around to find Shadow.

"Swap with me" he says

"You want to work in the pipe works?" Amy asked confused

"No I want to work in the generator but Tails won't swap, I would rather die than not do anything at all"

"Yes" Amy said with a smile

"Huh?"

"Yes!" Amy responded and took Shadow's piece of paper and gave him, hers.

"Thank you!" she said to Shadow. She gave him a hug and ran off "thank you so much!" she shouted again

"No problem" Shadow said, still shocked by the hug.


	3. Ch 3, The moth, the sky and the voices

Chapter 2

Amy ran through the streets back to her home. Just before she reached her apartment she heard Miss Vanilla the Rabbit singing as she was hanging her washing out of her window. She spots Amy and waves to her.

"Hello dear, how was assignment day?"

"I'm a messenger!" Amy said with joy

"That's wonderful!" Vanilla replied with the same amount of enthusiasm.

Amy then ran into the yarn shop which her grandmother and grandfather had owned. The shop had yarn everywhere; it hung from different corners of the room, being connected to chairs, the desk and the bell that rung every time the door opened. Behind the desk was an old pale pink hedgehog. Her quills were long and messy and she wore a multicolored shawl on her shoulders.

Amy's P.O.V

"Granny, Granny" I called, I saw granny behind the desk, she was trying to find something or at least it looked like it. "Granny, I'm a messenger"

Granny looked at me and said

"Y-you shouldn't make things up, you're not a messenger Amy"

"Today was assignment day, remember?" I said with a smile

"Oh" she said again, as if she understood now. The lights started to flicker on and off, I looked around to find that Cream wasn't in the room.

"Where's Cream" I ask granny, she looks around her and mutters "she was helping me earlier" she then hands me a piece from a bright blue string.

"Here's Cream"

I take the string and follow it into the other room. I find cream with the blue string in her mouth.

"Cream take that out of your mouth" as I take it out.

Shadow's P.O.V

I went back to my house, I live with Barrow. He is a tall brown hedgehog that usually wears a mucky blue waistcoat and dark brown trousers. He's not my dad or even related to me. He had found me walking in the streets, homeless and well I guess he took pity for me and took me in. This was 10 years ago.

The house is full of things Barrow makes. All of it hard and mechanical. I come in and Barrow sits me down. He hands me a parcel

"For you" he says with a slight smile on his face, "Thank you" I say as I unwrap the parcel to find a strange metal contraption.

"I made it myself" he says

"Yeah, I can tell" I say plainly as I study the object, I found that you could open it and many tools came out. "What's it for?" I ask

"You'll figure it out" he says, he then gets up and proceeds to make dinner, he uses a contraption he made himself. He places and tin of beans on a plate and the plate moves to a tin opener. Once it is opened it moves to get heated by 3 strong lights. It then gets poured out into a bowl and lands in his hand. As he watches the food get ready he says

"What you get is what you get, what you do with what you get that's more to the point, pay close attention and you'll know what others don't, wouldn't you think so?"

"Real useful Barrow" I say as I get up to leave

"You're not hungry" he asks as he gestures the bowl towards me

"No" I say blankly and I walk out the door.

Amy's P.O.V

I put Cream to bed and walk up to my desk dragging a piece of string with me that linked up with her bed

"I'll play you the voices while you fall asleep" I say. I sit at my desk and start to pull on the string; this causes her bed to rock back and forth. In front of me there is an old answering machine which can be played if I move the pedals underneath it. I start to pedal and the voices begin to play

"Yoo, hoo, yoo, hoo, anybody home? Don't hold dinner for me love, I'll be back after lights out" there is a beep and other voices are heard. The first voice belonged to my dad, Brian Rose, he died 4 years ago. This is only thing I have to remember him by. There is one last voice and it says

"Hello Brian, look I thought about it. I've watched the boy and I've come around. I'm in" There is one last beep and the tape ends.

I look behind me to find Cream fast asleep. I smile and turn back to my desk. Behind the curtain I kept a secret draw. I open it and take out a drawing that I had since I was little but never finished. It was of a village but the drawing had no sky. I take out a blue crayon and color the sky blue. Once the sky is finished I look outside and sigh, I'll never see a blue sky ever. Just the lights that light up out city. And beyond that, the empty darkness.

Shadow's P.O.V

I venture through the streets of Ember when I hear a faint fluttering. I go towards the noise when I find an injured moth in the bowl, which guards a statue of the first mayor of Ember. The moth is quite big, almost as big as me. It looked like its wing was injured, I gently move towards the moth to try and fix it. It moves back in fear but I calm it down by stroking it. I tie the torn wing together with my shoelace and let it fly off. It flies upwards and I wonder why it would want to go into the darkness.


	4. Chapter 4, First day

Chapter 3

The next day had arrived and Amy was eager to start her first day as a messenger. She ran into the messenger head quarters and immediately said

"Amy Rose reporting for duty!" as she held up my strip of paper that read messenger.

As soon as she said that the boss jumped and looked at her with shock.

"You're early Rose" he says "at ease, at ease"

The clock had struck 8 o'clock and everyone was running to their part of the city. Once everyone had gone the boss gave Amy a red cloak that all the other messengers had. She admired it as he put it on her

"It's beautiful" she said

"Wear it proudly; always keep it in good repair"

"I will"

He then gets up and faces her.

"Your station is Gone Square" he says to Amy, Amy takes off but the boss shouts to her

"STOP!" Amy immediately stops and turns back to face him. "I need to tell you the rules" he starts "when a customer…" Amy cuts him off, and continues his sentence

"When a customer gives you a message repeat it back so you know you got it right, two, always wear the red cape so people can identify you, Three, our customers have to pay 20 rings for every message we deliver no matter how far so go fast, I move really fast" Amy looks at the boss, chuffed with herself

"Very good now go!" the boss replies. Immediately Amy runs off to begin her first day as a messenger

Meanwhile Shadow enters the doors leading down into the pipe works. They smelt foul and the stairs were slippery so Shadow had to hold onto the handle bar to stop himself from slipping. He makes it down into the center of the pipe works were he meets a man called Sol, who would have to be his boss.

"These overall's will go over your clothes and that belt will have all the tools you'll need" Sol says as he hands over the suit to Shadow. He then takes hold of a pair of boots and takes a good look at them "I think there is enough traction left in these boots, you need traction to work the pipes" he hands over the boots to Shadow who slowly puts them on.

Sol points to a locker and says "Now this locker is yours, you can put in your shoes and what not" He then proceeds to grab a helmet and places it on Shadows' head. Unfortunately the helmet slides off. "You got a big head" he then grabs a bigger helmet and by chance it fits perfectly "ah that fits!" he says with enthusiasm, he takes off the helmet and hands it over to Shadow "Alright now, crave your name on it"

"Why?" Shadow suddenly asks.

"Why?! In case something happens to you, the man that wore this helmet before you drowned, if hadn't had craved his name on it we wouldn't have known who he was" Sol walks to the end of the bench and sits down.

Shadow begins to crave his name in, after an awkward silence Shadow finally says

"I think I can figure out what wrong with the generator, when can I see it?" He finished carving his name in "Done" he looks back at Sol who had fallen fast asleep.

Amy's P.O.V

I'm running as fast as I can, I feel like my body could carry on running as far as the eye can see. I have my first message and I'm running right to the end of Ember to the green houses. I finally reach the green houses where I'm greeted with Sally.

"Hi!" I say with a smile. Sally and I have been good friends for a while so I'm glad that see was my first message.

"Oh hi, look at you!" she says as she admires my cloak.

"You're my first message!"

"Okay, I'm ready!" she replies with a smile.

"It's from Sonic the hedgehog" I say, she rolls her eyes and says

"Let me hear it" I hold up an old potato and say

"If this is a potato then I'm 16 and sexy"

We both break up into laughter and Sally takes the potato, we then hear a scream coming from the unknown region. We go out to look to see what's going on.

We see a man emerging from the darkness. He's dirty and gasping for air and he's clutching some sort of claw like object. He then collapses on the floor with exhaustion. The waste control team comes closer and advises us to stay back.

"It broke up in my hand!" He says, a section of the team gets closer and shout at the rest to stay away from him

"I couldn't see it, I ran right into it, it was as big as a house!" he shouts again "I was just trying to get out, along the river. So dark. I grabbed onto it. I HAD TO! Before it grabbed me!" We hear whistles and we turn around to see the police arriving at the scene. They go up to the man and drag him away.

"I knew it was dark but I had no idea how dark, I could see anything!" he says as he is dragged away. He sees me and stares at me as he is dragged off.

I look back at Sally and ask

"Why would he risk being thrown in jail when everyone knows it's against the law to go out there?" Sally sighs and says

"There's far too much here to worry about out there" she sighs again and says

"Your father would have known who to fix these potatoes"

She then smiles and pulls me in for a hug, she whispers in my ear

"Don't dig to deep Amy" A break the hug and smile back, Sally then goes back into the green house. I look over to find the claw that the man had left behind. I look over my shoulder, took it and ran off with it.


End file.
